DeKalb police push ticket furlough

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

You may get out of a traffic ticket in DeKalb County.

Some DeKalb County police officers are organizing a ticket furlough to protest their unpaid holidays. Officers, who are promoting the protest on a police officers' blog, said they are issuing more warnings for speeding and other violations.

In February, the county commission voted to stop paying employees on seven holidays as part of budget cuts. Most employees get the unpaid day off, but some police officers and other public safety workers must still work the holidays.

“We just get a reduction in that week’s check,” said Jeff Wiggs, president of the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police. “We are continually concerned about reduction in pay and police officer morale.”

Despite being unhappy about the cuts, the FOP told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they do not support the ticket furlough.

“We’re not advocating a ticket slowdown,” said Wiggs, a master police officer with DeKalb. “But due to less officers, there are times in the day where we have less time to do enforcement because of the call volume.”

Wiggs said the FOP has received dozens of complaints from officers about the pay reduction.

DeKalb officials said they were unaware of the ticket furlough and have not seen a decline in citations issued.

“We are 7 percent above where we were last year at this time,” said Shelia Edwards, a spokeswoman for the county CEO.